§ Sir Richard Bodyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will list the recommendations made in the Swann report on the use of antibiotics which have not been acted upon.
§ Mrs. FennerThe report of the joint committee on the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine (the Swann committee) was published in November 1969. The committee made a number of recommendations, relating both to general principles and to matters of detail, which were designed to avoid hazards to human and animal health which might result from the administration of antibiotics to farm livestock.
The Government's policy on the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine continues to be based on the Swann committee's principal recommendation that antibiotics available for administration to livestock should be classified as either "feed" or "therapeutic" and that only the former should be available without prescription for use in feeding stuffs. "Feed" antibiotics have little or no application as therapeutic agents in man or animals and will not impair the efficacy of prescribed therapeutic drugs through the development of resistant strains of organisms. The committee made a number of detailed recommendations relating to the control of feed antibiotics and to specific antibiotic substances consequent upon the principal recommendation; these recommendations too have been implemented with only very limited exceptions. Of the Swann Committee's remaining recommendations, which covered a wide variety of topics related to the use of antibiotics in farming, the majority have been implemented. In particular, the Ministry's central veterinary laboratories, together with the veterinary investigation centres, monitors the development of antibiotic resistance. An epidemiology department has been set up at the central veterinary laboratory since the committee reported. However, resource constraints have had a bearing on the 486W extent to which the committee's recommendations on research and investigation have been followed up by universities and other organisations.
The committee's recommendation that the advertisement and promotion of therapeutic antibiotics to laymen should be prohibited has no been acted upon.
A joint sub-committee on antimicrobial substances was established in 1973 and reported jointly to the Committee on Safety of Medicines and the Veterinary Products Committee, the statutory committees of independent experts who advise the Health and Agriculture Ministers on matters relating to the safety, quality and efficacy of licensed medicinal products. However, the sub-committee was disbanded at the end of 1980 in the light of resource constraints. The Veterinary Products Committee continues to bear in mind the problem of resistance when considering applications for product licences for antibiotic medicines and feed additives. Licences are not granted if the Committee considers that there is a risk of resistant strains developing which might pose a hazard to human health.